Tsingano
The Tsingano people are akin to the Romani people. They are called the Travellers said to come from Bhodistan, they have no permanent home of their own instead they travel the world in garishly painted wagon, known for being talented horse breeders and traders. The Tsingani that reside in Terre d’Ange believe they must travel the Longo Drom – the long road – and have no permanent home because when Blessed Elua was weary, he sought sanctuary among the Tsingani in Bhodistan, and they turned him out, with jeers and stones, predicting in their pride that he and his Companions would ever be cursed to wander the earth, doomed to call no place home. It was not wise to curse the son of Earth's womb. The Tsingano were punished, the fate they decreed sealed as their own, condemned to walk the long road. But in her cruel mercy, the Mother-of-All granted the Tsingani the dromonde, like prophecy to part the veils of time, that next time they might see truer. The dromonde can see into the past as well as the future. The dromonde was the province of women only. For a man to practice it was vrajna, forbidden. The Tsingani have a unique culture and language. They travel in small groups called a kumpania usually made up of those in an extended family, the Tsingan Kralis, the King of the Tsingano is chosen from the baro kumpai, the four mightiest kumpanias. While others may see the Tsingani as flirtatious and bold, the Tsingani hold chastity in fierce regard and the law of laxta is fierce in their society. It means the unsullied virtue of a Tsingani woman, this may be lost in a hundred ways but the two foremost among them was the loss of virginity before marriage, to allow her body to be defiled, to become vrajna and unclean, and the other is mingling of precious Tsingani blood with one of the gadje, the Others. The products of mingling Tsingani blood are named Didikani, meaning half-breed. It is the way of the Tsingani, for their women to carry their wealth in Tsingano gall, coin-wrought jewelry. Many women wear an elaborate affair of gold coins strung together around their neck and wrists, even coins dangling from their ears. Tsingani women marry young but you can tell the unmarried as they wear their hair uncovered. The Tsingani have a terrible reputation in Terre d’Ange and other countries, they are called thieves and liars, the people of Siovale in Terre d’Ange believe that the Tsingani would steal a D’Angeline child and raise them as their own. While it is not true, the Tsingani know a thousand ways to cheat the gadje. Kushiel's Avatar By the events of Kushiel’s Avatar, Manoj the Tsingan Kralis had died and the Tsingano whispered the name Hyacinthe, son of Anasztaizia at the crosswords, hoping that he would lead them. Once Phèdre freed Hyacinthe from his eternity on Third Sister he refused the mantle of Tsingan Kralis for the Tsingano had cast him out as vrajna and now they wanted him for his power. Instead, he attended the gathering of the baro kumpai, he had chosen among the candidates set forth to lead the Tsingani. He had quizzed them all; asking how each would have handled the fate of his mother, Anasztaizia, driven from the Tsingani for having surrendered her virtue to a D'Angeline, the bitter price paid for a cousin's ill-placed wager. All of them knew the answer he sought; only Bexhet, son of Nadja, gave it unfaltering, with all the stammering pride of one raised a widow-woman's son, prepared to challenge the ancient code of the Tsingani that placed such inordinate weight on outmoded rules of honour that valued a woman's virginity above her person. Notable Tsingani characters Hyacinthe - 'Phèdre's best friend from childhood. Becomes Master of the Straits. [[Anasztaizia|'Anasztaizia]]' - '''Hyacinthe's mother. '''Manoj -' Hyacinthe's grandfather,'' tsingan kralis''. '''Emile - '''Friend of Hyacinthe. Given the tavern the coquerel after Hyacinthe becomes Master of the Straits. Category:Groups Category:Tsingani Category:Kushiel's Dart Category:Kushiel's Avatar